Heart disease is a leading cause of death in the United States. Risk factors associated with heart disease, including obesity, diabetes, and high cholesterol, have become a public health concern. When behavioral modification of these risk factors do network, heart surgery is sometimes recommended. Surgery reopens the blood supply to the heart; is does not correct behavioral factors that may have lead to the disease. After surgery it is important that patient is physically active and maintains a healthy diet. This is not always the case. Interviewing people who have undergone heart surgery can clarify life after a coronary event. This study can explain why some patients make changes after surgery while others do not. Understanding the patient's perspective of recovery is an important step to improving health outcomes. The purpose of the proposed research is to create an improved understanding of the recovery process and outcome of patients who undergo heart surgery. The project will use social information (quality of life, social support, and lifestyle) as well as information from medical records (e.g., blood pressure, weight) to get a full picture of well-being. Seventy-five patients recovering from heart surgery will be followed as they recover. This project will have multiple benefits; it will help people in the health services, patients who undergo heart surgery, and more generally the numerous people affected by heart disease. Health care providers will be able to integrate the patient's perspective into the care plan, thus providing tailored, efficient care. Patient will be given a voice in their own health care by incorporating their experiences into the traditional biomedical model of recovery from heart surgery. Results from this study can also provide future heart surgery candidates with information about the experience. More broadly, the project addresses healthcare interests of many Americans as well as matching disease prevention and health promotion objectives outlined in Healthy People 2010 (e.g., heart disease and stroke, nutrition and overweight, physical activity and fitness). The proposed project will enable both patients and clinicians to make better decisions about heart-related health care, promote improvement in outcomes for patients who undergo heart surgery, as well as provide health service researchers with qualitative methods for assessing recovery. A successful recovery is important to everyone. Patients want to get back to their families, jobs, and social activities and clinicians want healthy patients. The proposed research is one means of furthering these endeavors. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]